Former army chief warned us before, says Turkish PM

Turkish PM says former Army Chief of Staff Basbug warned them about the existence of a ''parallel structure'' in the police department and said, ''Today us, tomorrow you''.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan answered to journalists'' questions on the way back from Diyarbakir, where he held his presidential rally, on Saturday. He said that the then Army Chief of Staff, Ilker Basbug, had warned them about the existence of a ''parallel structure'' nested within the police department. Erdogan said Basbug warned them by saying, ''Today us, tomorrow you'', and what he said really happened.

''According to them, they had received some signals about some issues that were carrying anxiousness,'' PM told.

Basbug, the ex-army chief, had been jailed in the Silivri prison near Istanbul for 26 months in connection with the Ergenekon case, a trial that helped tame Turkey's once all-powerful military. He was freed on March 7, 2014.

Being asked about whether Basbug mentioned Ali Fuat Yilmazer, the former chief of the intelligence unit at the police headquarters, was linked to the Gülen-lead ''parallel network'', Erdogan replied, ''Yes, he was. He was already on our agenda. I had heard about Yilmazer and had said the same to him [Basbug]. Now he is parading with the handcuffs on.''

Erdogan said that the police officers, who were taken to custody on Saturday -- claimed to have been linked to the Gülen-led network—were just one leg of this ''parallel structure''. As another leg of this, he said, ''I believe that there are also ones among your colleagues [journalists] who are based in and fled abroad.''

PM avoided talking in details due to the ongoing judicial process. ''There is a ''financial'' dimension of this structure,'' he added.

He said that he met with Yilmazer two or three times, but noticed that he was drawing a different picture by mentioning different topics.

ERDOGAN IS HOPEFUL FOR AUGUST 10 PRESIDENTIAL BID

When asked about the possible election results, Erdogan said that the Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP) co-leader Selahattin Demirtas and himself were both receiving attention in Diyarbakir, the southeastern city in Turkey known to be the castle of Kurds. ''But we are well ahead in the southeast mainly in Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Adiyaman,'' he said.

''Of course we have support from CHP and MHP as well. We are expecting a 54-56 percent vote share, depending on the polls. There is 3 percent increase in Istanbul, for instance. Istanbul rose to 54 percent which shows the general trend in Turkey.''

Opinion researches predict a 94-96 percent voter turnout for the presidential bid that will be held on August 10.

Journalists raised the topic to Erdogan that polls show that most votes would come from the nationalist party, MHP, but the election campaign hasn''t included any ''Turkish nationalism'' message. Hinting that it is a very sensitive subject for the society, Erdogan said, ''I have always used this statement: We are neither political Kurdist, nor Turkist. We are a party that embraces the whole 77 million [in Turkey].''

Erdogan claimed that it is they who have the majority of 78 cities and said the upcoming election ''will even be better than the March 30 election.''

TIME-FRAME SET FOR ''RETURNING HOME''

After Turkey's 'solution process' in the decades-old Kurdish conflict has come into effect, Turkey''s southeast began to breath. ''Citizens are [freely] going out 24 hours a day. Twenty-one people [PKK militants] are down from the mountains and returned home within two days. Twenty-two families continue on their protests. We are hoping that they [their kids] return, too.''

Erdogan also called on the Turkish businessmen, saying that only visiting the region was not enough, but the region needed investments, which would create jobs and bring the public a different stance against the terrorist organizations. He added that the state supported and gave incentives for the investments in the region.